Act 5, Scene 3 - Video Note: Word Nerd: "womb"

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Word Nerd: "womb"

Context and Language Videos

Act 5,

Scene 3

Lines 45-48

An explanation of the word "womb" in Act 5, Scene 3 of myShakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

myShakespeare | Romeo and Juliet 5.3 Word Nerd: "womb"

Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death,

Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth,

Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open,

And in despite I'll cram thee with more food!

Video Transcript:

SARAH: Romeo is standing outside the Capulet mausoleum, which he compares to a voracious beast.

RALPH: The sealed opening which he is going to pry open are the jaws. The inner volume where the bodies are laid out, he refers to as the womb.

SARAH: The word womb came from the German word for belly, the torso of a person or animal.

RALPH: Today, of course, womb is another word for uterus.

SARAH: But in Shakespeare’s day, the word womb was used to refer to any part of the torso. Here he’s referring to the stomach of the beast.